He approached the gate, perfectly symmetrical and coal black. For its humble appearance, the air around it was horribly tense. Sylvester attempted to stretch his joints, not because he needed preparation but more to fend off the saplings of fear and doubt.

“Let me in; I have business to deal with,” he murmured to the gate. His fingers tapped the frigid bars for some seconds before the gate vanished altogether. Now a portal awaited. He steadfastly flied in and imbibed the peculiar landscape. Across the Infinite Continuum, blobs of speckled violet light permeated through a cold void. Many masses of demonic and godly power appeared as star-like orbs, and chunks of earth floated around aimlessly. The beauty of this place could pierce minds of the most heartless, and it defied the finiteness of known physics. Goosebumps ran through his back as he felt the impact of the place settle into him.

Among the bright darkness, four masses of ashy land connected with strings of roots and insects to a core of the same materials, constantly wriggling against each other grotesquely.

Meanwhile, a purple monstrous demon with hair reminiscent of Medusa watched a glowing object growing in size, turning out to be a mere boy with flashy wings. He smirked. It must be some vermin to fiddle around with. He planted his feet into a stronger position and clenches a fist.

Sylvester sped forward, following his instincts. There he saw the demon too, an ugly sight among an equally repulsive terrain.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAA!” the phoenix demigod cried at the top of his lungs. He conjured a frozen mercury sword letting out cold blue smoke.

However, voracious, sentient plants and a centipede the size of canyons broke forth from the ground to block his path. They attacked him with all their might until—

Shuuuung!

Tsug!

SHHHHHWACK!

CRRRRRSH!

He stabbed and slashed them, leaving lethal mercury drips into their cuts.

However, Sylvester glimpsed behind and stared into the hideous mouth of a Venus flytrap with a flash of horror. Then, it snapped its gnarly jaws closed, adding physical pressure onto him. At any moment, his bones could break, and his flesh will gradually turn into a pile of indistinguishable mush. Strange sharp points snuck to his skin, but before they penetrate further, he curled into a ball and mustered his energy. For a moment, his body melted into a dense sphere of boiling mercury then BAM! FWWSH! The Venus flytrap exploded into a ball of flames, and Sylvester emerged from it.

“Are you trying to stop me? It won't work!” the demon iterated boastfully.

He flicked some quickly expanding roots in Sylvester's direction. Sylvester dodged them with surprising prowess as he looped through the air, looking like an unusually radiant sparkler zipping by. In his hands, he conjured a scarlet bow with runic etchings and a firebolt arrow and shot at the roots. While they caught fire and crash to the ground, the monster setted up fire-resistant seeds near the edges of the burning roots.

Then, incredible pain surged through the areas where Sylvester felt the needles jabbing him in the Venus flytrap. It squeezed through his flesh without mercy, warning him to evade further danger, but there was no time. His wounds swelled in size abruptly until he looked like a bumpy squash. Despite his efforts, his wings felt as if they were two tons more than before, and his flight faltered.

The seeds broke out into a series of trees forming a gigantic dome around Sylvester with each layer growing onto another. Hanging down from it was a particularly spiky cactus, and once it broke free from the vine supporting it, it inflated just like a pufferfish almost to the size of the dome. Before the long spikes, each a length of a pole, could pierce through him, Sylvester metamorphosized into mercury. He attempted to slip through the gaps between the layers of fire-resistant trees, but they were too tough to infiltrate through. Space between those gigantic spikes looked dismally scant.

This isn't looking good right now. Guess I'll break through with force.

Still in a blob form, he rapidly whirled around the dome several times, letting the spikes pass through him and leaving a trail of fire behind.

While the first and second layers of plants were getting scorched, he turned back to normal with the injuries from before still intact, panting with exhaustion. Apparently, he hadn’t reached the full potential of his mercury powers yet.

“Too much…energy. Ugh,” he mumbled to himself. The young demigod staggered before breaking a hole through and flying out.

He attempted to fly as high as possible with a couple of wing flaps. Sylvester tightened his grip on the arrow he summoned, but one of his arms spasmed at the wrong time.

Crap! Now you're giving up?!

In a quick lethal moment, the intended rain of multiplying firebolt arrows went awry. Towers of kudzu-wrapped trees, each coming from the four masses of land, rushed to inflict damage, and Sylvester evaded too slowly since he lost his stamina. Two of the branches pinned his temples in, and another tree branch pierced the area just below his chest. Kudzu wrapped around his neck soon after.

“AAGH!” Sylvester yelled. Near his hand, a blob of mercury started to take the shape of a sword, but the branches dug deeper into his head, causing enormous pain.

The demon stood on an elevating tree stump to Sylvester's right and tapped his chin.

“Hmm... did I injure you too much? That wouldn't be good, wouldn't it? Stay still,” he said. His large hand loomed over Sylvester's right eye.

“No!” the demigod responded. The more he struggled to fend off the villain, the tauter the vines were around his neck. Eventually, an amorphous blackness took over his consciousness.

The boy's wings dissipated in an instant. The demon's fingers crept under his right eyelid and yanks the blue eyeball out. Blood spurted out from the eye socket, contrasting with the calming hue of the sky in the iris. There's no need for this boy anymore apparently. He removed the trees in the way, grabbed the boy's ankle, and dragged the unconscious body to the edge.

“Your powers were an annoyance, but thanks for giving me what I want,” the demon addressed to Sylvester before throwing him off.

* To be continued *